Sub Committee meeting likely in next one week
Leaders to seek written orders immediately
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Feb 19: With resentment brewing up among the representatives of Ladakh over delay in calling fresh meeting by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and no official order on assurances handed out in last two meetings held in New Delhi on December 3 and January 15, the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) planned to seek written orders in the next meeting which is likely to be convened around February 25.
Follow the Daily Excelsior channel on WhatsApp
At January 15 meeting of the Sub Committee in the Union capital, the LAB and KDA representatives were told that next meeting could take place on February 25. There has been no official message of the meeting so far. However, some of the LAB and KDA leaders have been sounded that the Sub Committee is likely to meet around February 25 i.e. within next one week and that the representatives will be sounded of the date very soon.
Officials told the Excelsior that the meeting was delayed because of the Parliament session followed by the process to elect Chief Minister for New Delhi and now it is being planned within a week.
Some of the LAB and KDA members told the Excelsior that there has been no outcome of last two meetings called by the MHA including one of the High Powered Committee (HPC) on December 3 last year and Sub Committee meeting on January 15.
“None of the assurance announced in the meeting have been fulfilled as no formal orders were issued either by the Union Home Ministry or by the Union Territory (UT) Ladakh Administration,” they said.
They recalled that in December 3 meeting, the MHA representatives announced 95 percent recruitment in all categories for locals and 33 percent reservation to women in Autonomous Hill Development Councils of Leh and Kargil while in January 15 sitting a decision was taken that entire backlog recruitments in gazetted cadre will be advertised and posts filled up by the Union Public Services Commission (UPSC) followed by a decision on future recruitment by the UPSC, dedicated PSC of Ladakh or Jammu and Kashmir PSC.
However, the LAB and KDA leaders said, not a single order has been issued about the assurance held out to them in last two meetings and that they will forcefully take up issuance of written orders immediately in the next meeting.
“It seems the Central Government is just gaining the time,” one of the leaders observed.
Since Ladakh was separated from Jammu and Kashmir and made a Union Territory on August 5, 2019, no gazetted cadre recruitments have been made in the absence of a PSC. There has been a demand from almost all bodies of Ladakh for age relaxation in the recruitments due to prolonged delay in advertisement of vacancies. The age relaxation demand is likely to be conceded by the UT administration, the sources said.
On 95 percent reservations for locals, 80 percent will go to STs, 4 percent to Actual Line of Control (ALC), 10 per cent to Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), one percent to SCs and five percent to others but they too will be domiciles of Ladakh. However, no such order has been issued so far despite a decision taken in the meeting earlier.
It was also decided in the January meeting that a blueprint for domicile will be ready within the next few days. The non-gazetted recruitments in Ladakh UT were conducted on the basis of LRC (Ladakh Resident Certificate), which was replica of State Subject used in the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir of which Ladakh was third division besides Jammu and Kashmir.
LAB and KDA have been agitating for four-point agenda including Statehood, Sixth Schedule status, dedicated PSC and two Parliamentary seats for Ladakh. There has been no response from the MHA on Statehood and Sixth Schedule status. As far as two Parliamentary seats for Ladakh are concerned, the LAB and KDA have been told that this can be done only after delimitation for Lok Sabha seats is taken up after 2026.
The post No order issued on assurances given to LAB, KDA leaders in last 2 meetings appeared first on Daily Excelsior.